And now begins the first day for my new henchman. I discussed it with Damian yesterday, after he was done with his uhm ‘session’ with me. He suspected that the investigation would take a few days so decided to stay at my base to get to know the other henchmen and followers more.
The next thing we needed to do was to decide where he would be staying at. I was prepared to create another little home building for the Beastman, but he insisted on living at my home as well. I tried to refuse, the idea of having him in close proximity at all times was too much for me. Unfortunately, he brought up a good counter to my refusal…
“…. You wanted me to have cuddle time with you in private right? Wouldn’t it make it easier for me to live in the same house as you then?”
…damn it he was right. So reluctantly, I agreed as I began adding another extension to my home. I decided to add an additional floor to the building so I could provide Damian’s room upstairs and further away from my own room. Once I was done, I let Damian check it out and he gave his approval.
Next, we began to discuss what we would need to do about the investigation quest the guild posted about Mordred.
“So how should we handle the guild on this matter Damian? You worked with them for a long time, so I trust you have an idea on how to deal with them?” I asked him, wanting the veteran adventurer’s input.
The black bear closed his eyes as he pondered on it, thinking for a bit before giving his answer. “… I believe simply reporting on not finding any evidence of his presence will be enough for now.”
As he continued his explanation, he casually began to pick me up and hold me in his arms, giving off a light blush to his face. I sighed to myself as I had no choice but to let it happen as per our agreement.
“.... it’ll only be temporary though. Eventually enough people will notice his presence.” Damian warned.
“That will be a problem… hopefully we can find a solution in conquering the town before then.” I responded. I thought about this matter, all while the bear was snuggling his cheek with mine.
I’ll have to return to town as soon as I can but that can wait for the next day. Right now, there was one more thing I needed to do with Damian.
“Now then Damian, as for what I’ll have you do here. I was thinking of having you help train my weaker minions. Think you can do it?”
In response, I felt my body get squeezed tighter as our cheeks pressed closer together. “Oh definitely, anything for you Vladdy! ~”
I was about to object to the nickname he was giving me, but I could see that he wasn’t listening to me at the moment so gave up on that. Well, if he said he could do it I’ll have to trust on that. I’ll just have to see how well he can do it for myself.
Once Damian settled down from snuggling with me, I called all the kobolds and goblins together on the training grounds. Luckily, they seemed to have mostly recovered from Mordred’s ‘training’ and seemed mildly ready to continue.
I stood in front of everyone and began to make my announcement. “Alright everyone, from today on we’ll be having my new henchman here in charge in your training. I’m sure we can all agree his experience in adventuring will prove valuable for us, so I want you all to take his instructions seriously!”
“Understood chief!”
“Yes Sir!”
I then made a seat for myself with the ground a bit away from them as I sat and continued. “For today, I’ll be here to observe his work and conclude his skills in training. Damian, you have the floor.”
The Beastman nodded when he was acknowledged and walked in closer to them. “…now let’s start with some basic exercise. It’ll help build up your endurance and strength to make it easier to use your weapons.”
My minions seemed to sigh in relief, compared to their dastardly training from before, they were happy to comply to a simple exercise.
He started with a simple running exercise, concluding that it would be important for them to train them in this aspect in case they would ever need to escape from danger. It seemed he had a good understanding of the mindset of a kobold and goblin. I gave a smirk in satisfaction as his experience was already starting to prove useful.
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I figured that it would be fine to leave them be and decided to take the time to check out my own status, it has been a while since I last checked, and it would be good to check on my own progress.
It has been a while for sure, though my attribute remains to be unchanged there has been slow progress overall, except for [Material Forge] and surprisingly [Kobold Adaptability]. The first one I get, since I use it rather regularly, but the last one still puzzles me. I had to wonder what the conditions are to improve [Kobold Adaptability]. I actually have to wonder what kind of upgrade I can do once that ability ranks up. Probably either faster growth speed or more variety in progression. For now though, I’ll have to just be happy with the progress.
Also noticing [Dimensional Box] I had nearly forgotten that I had stuff in a lot of [Healing Powder] after the incident with the goblins. It doesn’t help to have something to help someone recover. I also noticed that my new skill [Basic Elemental Magic] had progressed well too despite just receiving it not too long ago. I’d probably chalk it up to it being at Rank G and thus easier to improve.
As I continued to go through my overall status, I couldn’t help but notice Mordred come by, I had thought he was doing patrol at the moment. Why was he here?
The hulking Minotaur walks into the scene, his direction was not to me but to my surprise Damian. I had to wonder what kind of reason he would have with the Beastman. As he approaches the bear, Damian couldn’t help but notice, stopping his training session.
“…is there something you need?” Damian questioned, while raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“Yeah, there is.” With a swift movement, Mordred pulls the ax out of his back as he points the end of its blade towards Damian’s face, who’s face barely making a reaction as the Minotaur continues. “I want you to face me in a fight again. Yesterday was a lucky break, and I rather had face you at my best.”
The bear merely stared back, his expression still the same as before as he stood their silence. He was processing on the challenge made before him. “… alright, let’s do it after they finish their training.”
I could only stand there in bewilderment, I had to wonder what made Mordred want to challenge Damian like this. I mean, I know he’s usually bloodthirsty for a fight but for some reason the look in his eyes felt different. It had an unusual sense of seriousness I never saw him have before.
I decided not to interfere with the challenge and instead I would monitor them to make sure they wouldn’t go too far. They both agreed to it and once the kobolds and goblins finished their training, I had us get the fighting area prepared.
We gave them plenty of space while I used some extra [Log] to use as the boundary for their fight. All my minions stood by, ready to watch the fight unfold.
“Yeah, you got this Mordred!!”
“Show him who’s the other boss!”
It looks like the orcs were taking Mordred side, probably still feeling angry from their last fight. As for the others. The kobolds and goblins decided to cheer for Damian instead, it seemed they were already taking a liking to him despite their initial fear of his status.
As for the wolves, well they didn’t seem to be all that interested in the fight. Many of them continued with their hunting duties while the rest of them decided to take a nap instead.
Once everything was ready, they only had to wait for my signal for the match to begin. There was still this feeling of worry about this fight. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but Mordred was acting unusual right now, but I know that it was pointless to try to stop it.
I began to raise my claw up, the anticipation filling the air. The two combatants were taking their battle stance, waiting for the signal. Once I was sure both sides were ready, I motioned my claw down.
“Now begin!”
